School Bond Elections Set For Tulsa-Area Schools Tuesday

Several area school districts, including Jenks and Union, have elections Tuesday. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tulsa Public Schools has a board member election, while four surrounding districts have bond elections.

Berryhill has the smallest bond issue on the ballot - $300,000 for new computers and two school buses - while other districts are adding schools or increasing space to accommodate growth.

Read The Berryhill Bond

Every day at Jenks Middle School, the cafeteria is packed with students. The lunch room was built for 500 at a time, but there are 1,700 students in the building.

Read The Jenks Bond

To make it work, students are divided into at least three lunch periods, but that's a big disruption.

"So our goal is to add about 400 or 500 seats in the cafeteria so we can have just two lunch periods - one for seventh graders, the other for eighth graders," said Principal Nick Brown.

Behind the school, on 40 acres, the district plans to build new athletic fields to avoid having to bus students to the central campus for practice.

Brown said, "And so we really feel like athletics would have better participation, and our students would be more active if we have the facilities to do those events and host events, rather than having to go to another site to do those events.”

At Union Public Schools, Superintendent Kirt Hartzler said the district is trying to accommodate new growth in the early grades.

Read The Union Bond

"Two propositions, both have to be approved by a super majority, together they total $27 million," he said.

The most expensive single item is a new elementary school planned near 31st and Garnett.

The district also hopes to buy new technology and buses - the big ticket items they can't buy with state support.

Hartzler said, "As we all know in Oklahoma, bond issues are critical to a public school."

The bond elections are all Tuesday, February 9, 2016.

Read The Bixby Bond